Art Exhibit “Which Way Our Children?

An African American Perspective
Closing March 31, 2013
Daily 10AM-4PM

 

Chicago Temple Gallery
77 W. Washington Street, 2nd Fl.
Chicago, Illinois 60602
312-236-4548

Co-Curators: Patricia Devine-Reed invited each artist to respond to, through our art, "What is the future for our children?"

In the 21^st century, the world is open to our children and the future, along with seemingly unlimited possibilities. Communications technologies allow instant contact, face-to-face conferencing, and networking anywhere in the world.  Other technologies enable us to utilize the sun, wind, and all the powers of nature, science, and history to create and build nearly anything and sustain a healthy, prosperous life for both people's environments. A vast array of arts and religions stimulates greater creative genius and healthy souls.  Yet, over half the world's children cannot access these rich resources because of poverty, poor education, inadequate food, prejudice, wars, and other violence.  What is the future for our children?  Can we… how do we enable our children, the world's children, to obtain and use global resources for a just world? 

This collage responded to a group traveling exhibition where 36 artists (12 Vancouver Canada, 12 Sacramento California, and 12 Mexico City, Mexico) responded to the theme "ENCOUNTER."



Artist:    Alpha Bruton
Title:      The Encounter: Single Parenting
Dimensions- 36” x 36”
Mixed Media Collage on Wood, 1993


I reflected on current affairs, news of the famine in Ethiopia associated with and believed to be warfare. Looking at the images that photojournalists are documenting in LIFE Magazine and other periodicals, the starving resemblances of babies and the American public ask why they are still procreating in a wartime climate?  Where is the father of these starving children? Again, turning a blind eye and a death ear to the genocide of a group of people, not only in Ethiopia but in the other wartime countries that are being systematically and psychologically humiliated by the enemy.

These acts of forcible genocides are on the unborn child; committed by soldiers, other combatants, or civilians during armed conflict or war or during military occupation, military leaders may actually encourage their soldiers to rape civilians. Moreover, war rape may occur in various situations, including institutionalized sexual slavery forced upon young girls and boys.

 

 

Detail

 

 The focal point in my collage is of a young girl being seduced by a glass of wine, a song, a dance, a whisper of seduction, lured into a one-night stand, pre-marital creation, and another generation reproducing itself.

An embrace from a white stranger on Thanksgiving Day as a young African-American mother and child watch their home being burned. In times like these, it is not black or white. Still, a time to show compassion, homelessness will imprint so many children in the 21st century amongst all the technology and social growth as a nation.

 

Then there stands the image of Lazarus, and what comes to mind is the most powerful scripture, "Jesus Wept."

 

Artist: Alpha Bruton

Title: "LIKE" Young Brides-Children 1937 – 1939

Dimensions-24” x 24”

Mixed Media Collage on Wood, 2013 (a work in progress)

 

Finding these images for my collage was purely random. I was looking through a box of vintage LIFE Magazines dated 1936 to 1941; I selected these images because they were used in articles with the caption that read: "The age of parenthood declines as young girls marry." The content disturbed me as I turned the pages of history and saw how off-centered the moral needle was in the United States during the '30s; Incest being the biggest taboo in our "civilized" society.

  "DIONNE QUINTUPLETS 05/17/1937." I selected these images because the girls were taken from their families by the doctor who delivered them, put on display as lab rats for nine years, exploited to the tune of millions of dollars. Even a tourist trade was set up around the town where they were born. But, the tragedy was that the family that fought to get them back failed to protect them. Instead, they became prey to the father and were oppressed by the mother that had no time to bond with them. To control the money, the government paid them to use their babies as a social experiment.  It is 2013, and I'm listening to a news flash where a government system has failed children yet again, as a Judge in Florida is being charged with sentencing youth to years of detention to support his lavish lifestyle at the expense of systematic abuse to hundreds of children.

 "Trends in Premarital Childbearing: 1930 -

1994, a study was done on the percentage of first births conceived out of wedlock have almost tripled since the 1930s, according to the U.S. Census. Growth in the proportion of first births born premaritally grew five-fold to women ages 15 to 29. The comparable figure for African American women doubled, from 43 percent to 86 percent of first births to women 15-19 years.

"STREET SHOWER 07/19/1937", a little black girl playing in the streets, having the time of her life, while others watch on. Faceless, nameless, but as I turned the pages of the LIFE Magazine, no other images of black girls, black women. So I read on and see the face of Wartime children and the caption "Wartime Childhood," emotionless faces, blank stares. I wonder what has happened behind the blankness. I wonder why it takes the torture and unimaginable beating of a child to change laws in the United States to protect them from their own families, which is not black or white, and why even in the 21^st century, the moral compose is still not centered.

 

AFRO Awards Ceremony 2013 Honors- Alpha Bruton



The African American Historical and Cultural Museum of the San Joaquin Valley awarded artist Alpha Bruton, as an honoree for the 2013 AFRO Awards, honoring women that give back to their communities. Bruton was noted for how she has worked with the Executive Director, providing professional development training, and connecting him to resources with the California Association of Museums. In 2012 she curated the new installation of the State Community College District Wall of Fame for the museum.

  

Gregory Melancon Executive Director of the Museum began the Afro Awards in 2011, to acknowledge and honor the accomplishments and contributions of African American Women from Fresno California who have aspired, and contributed to careers in the arts, education, health, humanities, law, nursing, science, social work, and political fields.

Alpha Bruton, pictured with lifelong friend Babette Stevenson of Fresno, CA

In 1984, the African American Historical and Cultural Museum was established to provide a vehicle for African Americans that had made significant contributions to the richness of the San Joaquin Valley. Jack Kelly Gallery features 3 cultural exhibits per year, that stay up for two months before rotating out. This gives the community an opportunity to visit the museum during Art Hop which is held the first Thursday of each month, 5-8pm, the museum is open to the public on Thursday, Fridays and Saturday, Noon - 5pm.

African American History and Cultural Museum of the San Joaquin Valley

1857 Fulton St Fresno, CA 93721

 Alpha Bruton- at the AAHCM- 

 Bruton is the founder, of the Phantom Gallery Chicago Network, 2005,
 and currently  services as the Director of the (PGCN) Board of Directors, since its incorporation in 2012.

Installation in Berlin, at the 1st International Exhibition Berlin Art Club 

Painting in the studio of Susanne in Berlin, Germany, 2012

Bruton completed her Masters of Art in Administration Program at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, in May 2001. Formal training in studio art, art education, dance production, theater arts, and art gallery management gives Bruton the foundation to manage art education programs. Currently, she is an artist and art consultant, not a teaching artist listed in the Illinois Arts Council Arts Education Program Roster, and a vendor for Chicago Public School. In addition, she is a member of the OpenWall Committee of the 47th Ward. This committee promotes artists and art organizations by hanging art on the walls of Alderman Ameya Pawar's office.

Bruton has served as a board member of Borderbend Arts Collective, a producer of the Chicago Calling Arts Festival, where local Chicagoans call out to artists in other cities, states, nationally, and internationally to engage them in collaborative projects highlighted during Chicago Artists Month in a two- a week-long festival during Chicago.

Bruton's current inspiration comes from her work in arts in wellness and environmental art projects. After completing a six-month residency at Oak Forest Hospital, in 2002, she started reflecting on how her piece affects lives. As a result, she started her series of vibration sound narratives that teach our bodies at all levels how to have a new experience. 

Bringing us into focus with the opportunities to choose new ways to live out our lives in each unique moment, they seem to mirror to us things that we have forgotten about ourselves, reminding us just how powerful we are in changing our reality. 

Experimental Art Installations and Performance Art

Borderbend Arts Collective, Inter-Faith Peace Concert, Living Sculptures.

These explorations affect her personally because she is examining what transpires between the audience and the canvas. As an installation artist, she stages experiences; in her performance art, she creates an observational view for others as spectators. As in this performance art piece performed using living sculptures, created site specific at the Chicago Temple in April of 2008, each model, and music was improvised, and choreographed on location for the Interfaith Peace Concert. 

Performance Art at the Chicago Temple, 2008

Scope of the Wiki Installation 2009

 "Snow Cones" to "Snow Peas"

Is an Installation produced for the Synesthetic Plan of Chicago 2009 at the Department of Cultural Affairs Tourism Information Center? This blog is a continuation of one module's journey to various artist- spaces and neighborhoods in Chicago. "Snow Cones" documents the mapping of street vendors and candy stores that provide treats for areas during the summers in Chicago. "Snow Peas" documents the movement of the module through green spaces.

Environmental Art Installations 

She will continue her exploration this summer with the MAP Gallery of Myths, Stories, and Living Tradition in Auburn, CA, by installing a "land trust," a building. The project is co-sponsored by the Visual Arts Development Project of Northern California, Rituals and traditions, a two-week artist in residency May 13th - May 25th, in Placer County. 

The project has proposed to create a living land trust for outdoor Altar Installations, a Continuum: MAP Gallery of Myth, Stories, and Living Tradition Breathing Life into the Gallery 2013.

Archives: Postponed Life Celebration Gathering for Michelle Walker

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Michelle Walker, Executive Director of Metropolitan Arts Partnership

Postponed Life Celebration Gathering for Michelle Walker. The Metropolitan Arts Partnership (MAP) has informed us that the gathering originally scheduled for Monday, February 25, at noon at the Crocker Art Museum has been postponed due to the Walker family's immediate needs. Since SMAC is not the organizer of the life celebration, please contact Oliver Wong at the Metropolitan Arts Partnership at (916) 442-4016 ext. 202 or Oliver@mapgives.com if you have any questions.

I worked with Michelle from 1992 to 1999 as an artist and art consultant, and as the first Arts Education and Outreach Coordinator for the City of Sacramento, a position she advocated for because of her dedication to arts education. She supported the African American Art Summit in 1993 as a speaker while serving as manager of the Art and Public Places Program. She encouraged African American artists in Sacramento to position themselves for public art projects by following guidelines, perfecting their resumes, submitting work samples, and partnering with other organizations to strengthen the community.

I resigned from that position in 1999 to move to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute. She was one of the women administrators I interviewed in 2000 as a case study for my master's thesis in arts administration,"Problems and Considerations for Women Administering Public Art Programs.”

Over the years, Michelle and I have had lunch together when I was visiting Sacramento, and met for coffee during a layover at O'Hare Airport as she was flying back to Sacramento from one of her many trips to a national conference or another. 

Over the years, time and distance have made our touching base less and less. It has saddened me that a sistah-friend and colleague has passed from this world, before I got a chance to visit, catch up on our life stories, talk about our daughters, and share our commonalities one last time, between our ever-so-busy schedules.

Metropolitan Arts Partnership from 2006 to 2013

Michelle Walker served as the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Arts Partnership from 2006 to 2013. (MAP) is designed to increase access for underserved audiences by strengthening arts education and outreach programs in schools, performance venues, and neighborhood centers, which are provided by our affiliated members throughout Sacramento, Yolo, Placer, El Dorado, Sutter, and Yuba Counties.

The Sacramento Bee: By Robert D. Dávila – Updated: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 - 7:52 am

Born in 1959 in Los Angeles, Michelle Angela Walker grew up with two brothers, painting, singing, drawing, and playing music. Her mother painted, and her father played drums in a band.

She studied guitar and was a competitive ice skater. She was an accomplished ceramic artist who sold her works to make money and earned a dance degree from California State University, Long Beach.

She formed a dance company and performed on TV on “Soul Train.” She earned a master’s degree in public administration from California Lutheran University and was assistant education director at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art before settling in Sacramento.

Ms. Walker, who raised a daughter, attributed her work as an arts activist to an “awareness of changing, perfecting, and flexibility” that she learned as a young dancer.

“I began to realize that the exposure I had taken for granted, others didn't have,” she said. “And I became committed to arts education; what it can do for you as a person and how it can make you explore who you are.”

Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission from 1992 to 2006

Shelly Willis Interim Director & Art in Public Places Director It is with great sadness that I inform you that last week Michelle Walker, Director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission from 1992 to 2006.

Through interviews with former staff and Arts Commissioners, I heard repeatedly that throughout her career, Michelle supported, advocated for, and worked tirelessly for arts education and equity of access to the arts. She began her professional career as an artist and was an accomplished ceramicist and dancer, receiving a BFA in Dance.

In fact, colleague, friend, and Director of Placer Arts, Angela Tahti, told me Michelle financed her college education through the sales of her ceramic work. Perhaps it was this experience that made her so committed to fighting for artists when she later became an arts administrator. “She respected the work of individual artists and fought to pay them well,” said Josie Talamantez, former Chief of Programs at the California Arts Council. Later in life, Michelle received a Master's in Public Administration and flourished in the 14 years she served as SMAC’s Director.

She was instrumental in founding the Sacramento Philharmonic and helped steward the commissioning of major public artworks at the Sacramento International Airport Terminal A. In 2004, she founded World Arts, a 2-year-long, free arts education program which provided students with in-depth arts experiences, 5 days a week, all summer, in Oak Park. Michelle helped champion Surreal Estates, a unique artist live/work community in Sacramento that includes 11 single-family units. The idea for the development came from a series of 1992 meetings dedicated to cleaning up Del Paso Boulevard and turning it into a cultural magnet.

The project was partially subsidized by SMUD and monitored by the company as a pilot project. She also reached beyond City and County government funding for the arts to the private sector for support. “Michelle identified alternative resources for the arts, establishing the Arts Commission’s nonprofit arm, Friends of the Arts Commission, while growing workplace giving,” said Barbara Bonebrake, the City of Sacramento, Convention, Culture and Leisure Department Director.

“The Sacramento art community has suffered a great loss with Michelle's passing.” Michelle was an advocate for all the arts, but had a soft spot for traditional folk art forms, according to Rhyena Halpern, former Executive Director of the Arts Commission, “She had exceptional gifts of insight and understanding, and a sweetness to her that I will always hold dear. Her good fight made life better for many artists, arts organizations, social service organizations, and all the people they served.”

“Michelle was a true champion for underserved communities, developing programs to provide arts access to all neighborhoods and ethnicities. Her leadership of the regional Metropolitan Arts Partnership leveraged support through workplace giving to many arts providers region-wide,” said Tahti, “She will be missed.”

On behalf of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, we offer our deepest condolences to Michelle's daughter, Ondrea, her brother Pierre, and Mother Aurolie Walker.

Berlin Art Club-International Exhibition

 Call for artists to participate in the Berlin Art Club-International Exhibition deposit 250,00 (euro) artist are responsible for their own airfare, and accommodations in Berlin. 2014

 
 

 
 

 

Will Portis Gallery Studio

I lasted visited Will Portis during his Art hop reception in Fresno California at Fresno City Hall in January of 2010. Will Portis Exhibit was on second floor,  his work in Realism and Abstract were admired by the public in this community art space dedicated to artists living and working in Fresno. Music was by: Peter Moedyic.

 

So two years later I asked Will Portis what he had been up too. He had just deinstalled an exhibit at the African American Historical and Cultural Museum of the Central San Joaquin Valley, which was for December's celebration, and he was the featured artist for Art Hop. He also had completed a large scale mural for El Capitan Middle School, in the Central Unified School District in November 2012. The mural celebrates the school's "Performing and Visual Art Program."

 

 

Alpha: How in the world did you get up there, or did you install it after you finished it in your studio?

 

Will: Just to satisfy your curiosity, they provided me with a customized scaffold. They welded a ladder on it and modified the adjustable wheels for mobility. I simply went up and down as needed.

Alpha: Did you have an assistant?

Will: I would have needed a million dollar bond, just for a helper. So I worked alone. The I would have had to purchase another million dollar bond just to park my truck on campus, therefore I parked on the street and dolled my working equipment back and forth.

 

Alpha: How long did it take you to complete it after the design was approved?

Will: I worked on it approximately three weeks, between 5-7 hour each day and two Saturdays.

 

Alpha: What style is this-- its beautiful, I love your color palate?

Will: This style of painting is like an exercise for my very intense representational style influence after the Dutch and Italian Renaissance.

 

 Contact Will Portis. Studio Location. 4866 E. Florence St. Fresno CA 93725. Phone/Fax: 559.485.4626. Cell: 559.906.3090. willportis@yahoo.com. willportis.com

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Will Portis

Will Portis began his career in art while still in high school as a display artist for the Goodrich Tire ; Rubber Company. Since then he has created hundreds of works of art, both commercially and as a private fine artist. Mr. Portis is an accomplished portrait artist as well as a master of landscape art. In addition to his paintings on canvas, Mr. Portis’work can be seen on the numerous murals he has completed over the years.

Will Portis, who describes his style as “natural realism”and “abstract realism” has been hailed as a modern renaissance artist by many. His paintings have been noted for their dramatic lighting and bringing out the character of his subjects.

Mr. Portis attended the University of Akron for Fine and Commercial Arts and holds a Master’s Degree in education. In addition to being a working artist, Mr. Portis is also available for private instruction.

Resource:
While I was researching the school district this mural was painted for I found this link to the Old Central High School Music Hall, at 2045 N. Dickenson Avenue, Fresno, CA 93723.

The Music Hall was built through the WPA in 1939.

Location notes:
Formerly the Central Union High School.

Coordinates: 36.765292, -119.970188

The Living New Deal website is a clearinghouse for information about the New Deal. Help us build an online library of documents, studies, films, books, and other web resources about the New Deal, then and now by submitting.

Out of Line Gallery Presents Veterans for Peace

"Art is Business" Re-posted for Ayala Leyser, artist

Hello Artists!

Still calling for Art for the next show at my Out of Line studio/gallery in Chicago. My gallery focuses on progressive themes and full multi-media events.

http://www.outoflineartstudio.com/

 

FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Out-of-Line-Art-Gallery/505185046169774

or on: http://www.outoflineartstudio.com/.

 

The next show/event: "Peace, War and more War", is scheduled for March- April. Besides visual art it will host music and some poetry relevant to the topic.

 

• No commission charged on sales, but artists are encouraged to donate a small percentage of sales to Veterans Against War, a multi-cause progressive organization.
• A $25-$40 installation/hanging fee will apply, depending on the size and number of pieces included. This fee includes a full reception event, drinks, food, poetry, and music relevant to the theme. Application is free. More details on: http://www.outoflineartstudio.com/

Feel free to apply/enter any work pertaining to theme (anti war, anti invasion, anti violence) by emailing an photo, a title, description and a very brief artist statement to: ayalaleyser@gmail.com. .

 

Looking forward to seeing your work. You can mail a hard copy to:

Ayala Leyser, artist

Out of Line Art Gallery

2812 W. Chicago Ave.

Chicago, IL 60622

"Greatness: A Celebration And Legacy Of Black History"

"Art is Business" reposted for Shonna McDaniels, Director Sojo Art Museum

 

Join Sojourner Truth Multicultural Art Museum

2013 Sacramento Museum Day Celebration
Saturday, February 2, 2013

10:00 am to 4:00pm

 Will be presented by the Sacramento African American Art Collective. Their mission is to expose Sacramento and its surrounding areas to African American Art and Culture for the expressed purpose of establishing a supportive and sustainable presence,empowering businesses, educating the community, and creating a living legacy for our youth. The exhibit re-establishes the critical importance of black families, positive imagery thereof, as a means to improve the collective health, self image and psyche of black people. Progressing from black love to black, family love.

Featured Artist: Frank Blackwell, Lawrence Sullivan, Norman Rockwell, Daphne Burgess,Gerry GOS' Simpson, Shonna McDaniels,Gene Howell, Lumumba,Davion Jones, Mallory Knight, Marichael J. Brown, Elizabeith Catlett, Kanika Marshall, John F. King, Constance King, Frankie Edwards-Lee, Laurelin Gilmore, Marshall Bailey,Cheryl Riley,Chelle Brantley.



[messhall] Mess Hall Closing: Final Months

"Art is Business" Reposted for the Mess Hall

This is the announcement list for Mess Hall, an experimental cultural center
 in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Mess Hall hosts a printed matter
archive, exhibitions, workshops, lectures, public projects, actions, events,
meals, and more.

Reading Area

Mess Hall
6932 N Glenwood, Chicago
just across from the Morse stop on the Red Line
http://www.messhall.org

Don't Mourn. Organize.”[messhall] Mess Hall Closing: Final Months
Joe Hill

Dear Mess Hall friends,

Mess Hall was founded in 2003 by a broad community of artists who were granted free use of a storefront at 6932 N. Glenwood Ave in Rogers Park. “Surfing on surplus,” we sought to develop a generosity economy in the cultural life of the neighborhood and city. We wanted cultural spaces run by the people who use them, and to explode the myth of scarcity by
redistributing surplus at every level of production and consumption. Ten years later, private property, following the inevitable trajectories of its calculus, reasserts itself. As of March 31st, Mess Hall will no longer exist.

International Art Group of Rogers Park,

Sunday Dinner and Artist Talk 2011 at MessHall

 

Over the last decade, Mess Hall has hosted thousands of exhibits, lectures, workshops, free stores, and other events that don't easily fit within the norms of culture prescribed by neoliberal capitalist society. The space has seen several generations of “key holders” and has evolved to meet the needs of the neighborhood and the challenges of organizing freedom during the Great Recession. Now, in our final months in this incarnation, we invite you to participate in a series of public events that address our beloved experimental center in the past and future tenses. What was this? What might it become?

Some events are directed to the past, in order to consolidate the knowledge the space has helped to create and mourn its passing. Others turn away from closure in order to extend the spirit of Mess Hall into the future. Now more than ever, we need to create practices, spaces, and counter-institutions that resist the reification of our daily lives, relations, and aspirations.

We welcome your participation in these events:

 *Saturday 16 February – Friday 23 March*

Mess Hall 2003-13 / Our Collective Future

This ongoing exhibit will display selections from the Mess Hall archives alongside your own memories of the space and community responses to a questionnaire about what Mess Hall was to residents of Rogers Park and what places will take its place once it's gone. The exhibit will be on display during all Mess Hall events, and questionnaires will be available in the distribution box by our door. Please send us your memories of Mess Hall, or stop by to fill out a questionnaire.

Chicago Calling Arts Festival- 2007

Saturday, February 23, 2:00 – 5:00 pm*

The Material Production of Cultural Space I.

The first of two workshops exploring practical models for building counter-institutions that are non-commercial, consensual, and community-driven. Two guest speakers will offer concise presentations on the labor, tactics, skills, and monetary investments required to forge/forage alternative cultural spaces in Chicago. The focus of our discussion to follow will be on concrete models or building worker-owned co-operatives, liberated houses, and counter-economies. As Mess Hall closes its doors, we wish to think in practical terms about how to establish and maintain spaces reclaimed from the dictates of private ownership.

Saturday, March 2, 2:00 – 5:00 PM*

The Material Production of Cultural Space II.

See previous event; different featured groups will present on the production of alternative spaces and economies.

*Saturday, March 16, 12:00 – 7:00 pm*

First Drafts for an Uncertain Future that May Kick Ass if We Work Together

A day-long conference for everyone interested in the future of alternative cultural spaces in Chicago. We will mix practicality with dreams, fantasies, and hallucinations to brainstorm the future shapes the spirit of Mess Hall might assume. We will ask a multitude of participants with practical knowledge about the development of anti-commercial, community-oriented counter-institutions to diagram their wildest dreams for spaces/sites/programs that defy the logic of the marketplace. A brunch-luck will be served from 12:00 –1:00, followed by several round-table discussions designed to explore the realities of the present by reflecting upon our dreams for the future. All participants are invited to bring diagrams of their dreams for free cultural spaces and the freaky communities that might inhabit them.

*Sunday, 24 March, 10:00 – 4:00 pm*

The Really, Really, Really, Really Free Store Mess Hall's Free Store is closing its doors, so we're having a Free Store Final Blowout Super Giveaway. Everything must go! It was free to begin with, so just imagine the discounts you'll find at our going-out-of-business sale! This final free store at Mess Hall is brought to you by the generosity of the White Rose Catholic Workers.

 *Friday, 29 March, 7:00 pm – Midnight*

 Farewell to Mess Hall: Closing Ceremonies and Celebration

Join us for our final gathering in the space. We will say our farewells with a parade, a key-tossing ceremony, and a night-long party. The current key-holders do not wish to leave the space alone. We will leave it as we found: together.

 That about wraps it up, folks. Mark your calendars, and check our website (www.messhall.org) and e-mail announcements in the coming months for these and many other events. In the meantime, we invite you to send us letters to/for/About Mess Hall—we are seeking memories, rants, photographs—anything you can offer us as we say farewell to this haphazard, beloved institution. Please send any memories or materials you may have to info@messhall.org with the subject line “Mess Hall Memories."

It has been a pleasure & honor to sustain this ongoing experiment with all of you. We will miss seeing you in this space and hope to rediscover each other through new experiments in generosity-driven culture. Our thanks to Al Goldberg, who has given us use of the space for the past ten years and who intends to reopen 6932 N. Glenwood Ave. as a center for spiritual practices.

 Yours in the ongoing struggle to Free Culture, The current Mess Hall key-holders

 (Diana, Lora, Lara, Justin, Rozalinda, Amy, Matthias)

 This is the announcement list for Mess Hall, an experimental cultural center in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Mess Hall hosts a printed matter archive, exhibitions, workshops, lectures, public projects, actions, events, meals, and more.

Chicago Calling Arts Festival- 2007

Korea WEST Cultural Vistas - Sponsoring Interns for Chicago

Phantom Gallery Chicago Network has been contacted my Alyssa Myers to sponsor one of their Korea WEST participants.

 Cultural Vistas is a non-profit organization that sponsors J-1 visas for international students and professionals participating in short-term training in the U.S through U.S. Department of State-mandated programs-- Korea WEST-- as a host employer for one or more of their participants.

Here is a bit more information about the Korea West program:

The U.S. Department of State and the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs have come to an agreement to deepen mutual understanding between the U.S. and South Korea by increasing the number of Korean university students admitted to internship and study programs in the U.S. Cultural Vistas has been selected to administer Korea WEST, a work and study program for highly-qualified students from the most prestigious universities in South Korea.


 Korea WEST participants are now available to interview for internships of up to 12 months in length. Participants are currently undergoing a 4-month program of intensive English study in the U.S. and will be available for training starting in January or February 2013.
Internships may be paid or unpaid, and there are no host employer fees whatsoever.
Cultural Vistas also takes care of: visa processing and visa sponsorship, all program fees, orientation, insurance, * assisting interns with moving to the internship site and finding housing.

Interested in hosting an intern please contact: Alyssa Myers amyers@culturalvistas.org;

Employers interview and hire WEST participants at their own discretion and shall not be compelled to alter their usual interviewing processes; Cultural Vista's role in the hiring process is to facilitate connecting Korea WEST participants with U.S. employers.

CALL FOR ARTIST/CURATORS

"Art is Business" by Alpha Bruton

 Logan Square, N Milwaukee Ave- Window Projections Curator Jayve Montgomery 2012

"Curatorial Practice" explores the impact of the urban environment on artist and their work, and the contributions that artists make to the vitality of a city. The place where art is imagined and made, whether in a physical or virtual space, affects the idea, the process, and the final product. And the art, once created, leaves a mark on the place it occupies.

N8Chicago 2010, Paducah KY, Chicago Artists Month

Phantom Gallery Chicago looks at how the city influences art and artists, and how artists transform the city by contributing to civic dialogue and quality of life.

Colorboration Project: Logan Square 2011; PopUp in the Loop March 2012

The Phantom Gallery Chicago seeks to provide a model situation for emerging curators to gain practical curating experience and to critically reflect on the issues involved. The aim of the Phantom is to examine changes in current curatorial production and to develop innovative displays in relation to these physical storefronts or virtual spaces.

BRIEF description of the proposed program:

Curator Carole Frances Lung, KO Enterprise at Labor Union Hall 07, SAIC

Curating means the creation of innovative structures for the presentation of cultural artifacts through interdisciplinary collaboration. In this field, art, digital media, and design relate in new ways to one another. The last few years have seen curators working in increasingly close collaboration with artists, designers, and educationalists on the development of exhibitions, projects in the public sphere, the design of museum spaces, and the presentation of collections. Contemporary exhibitions are changing, with new interpretative strategies complementing the integration into exhibitions of innovative display structures, lounge areas, archives, reading rooms, and new media interfaces.

Selection Process

All interested artists must first submit a complete application to the phantomgallerychigago@gmail.com. These proposals are then reviewed by the Phantom Gallery Chicago curatorial committee made up of local art professionals, members of the art community, and artists.    If selected, artists are then matched with a space that meets their needs/requirements as it becomes available. 

Artists' Responsibilities

• Accepted artists will be required to sign a contract outlining the terms of the individual agreement

• Design, install, maintain, and dismantle the installation (this includes any necessary build-out, temporary walls, painting, electrical, et al.)

•Provide all installation materials

Edmond Dante Hamilton, Chicago International Blog Awards Gallery Layout 2012

Staffing the gallery and/or developing a staffing plan

•Actively promote your participation acknowledging the Phantom as a sponsor, and all other sponsors, in-kind support, logo or web links.

Mailings, e-blasts, twitter, facebook, blogs, press releases, interviews with the press, and agree to participate in larger Phantom Gallery events.   All marketing/PR efforts must be reviewed and approved by the Phantom Gallery Chicago Network board of directors.

•Upon notification by the property owner or Phantom return vacant space to the original condition within the time period requested.

Phantom Gallery Chicago Network Role:

Curator Zero, Installation at Garfield Market, 2008

•             Find and secure appropriate locations at no charge to the artists

•             Act as point of contact for artists

•             Schedule and coordinate artists load-in

•             Review all artists’ marketing/PR materials in a timely manner

•             Provide publicity and marketing support for galleries (media alerts, Web site presence, links to artist sites, press release, signage, etc.)

 Creative Currency Words to Live By- Mobile Installations and Workshops

Curator Caryl Henry: Girl Artist with a purpose.